Here Comes The Nice

''Everyone gets frustrated and aggressive, and I'd sooner take my aggression out on a guitar than on a person. '' Paul Weller

The Beat Collector on SoulCommune

The mod (originally modernist, and sometimes capitalised as Mod) subculture originated in London in the late 1950s and peaked in the early to mid 1960s.[1][2][3][4][5] The mod lifestyle is sometimes referred to as modism, a term which may have been coined by Pete Meaden when he was famously quoted as saying "Modism, mod living, is an aphorism for clean living under difficult circumstances". Elements of the mod lifestyle include music, clothes (often tailor-made), dancing and motorscooters. From the mid to late 1960s onwards, the mainstream media often used the term mod in a wider sense to describe anything that was (or was believed to be) popular, fashionable or modern. Origins - The term mod derives from modernist, which was a term used in the 1950s to describe modern jazz fans as well as the musicians themselves.[citation needed] This usage contrasted with the term trad, which described traditional jazz and its players and fans. The 1959 novel Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes describes as a modernist a young modern jazz fan who dresses in sharp modern Italian clothes. Absolute Beginners may be one of the earliest written examples of the term modernist being used to describe young British style-conscious modern jazz fans. The word modernist in this sense is believed to refer specifically to modern jazz and should not be confused with the wider use of the term modernism in the context of literature, art, design and architecture. There are contradicting stories about the origins of the first mods, but one popular belief is that the movement began with a few disparate cliques of middle class teenage boys with family connections to the garment trade in London in 1958.[citation needed] These early mods were obsessed with new fashions such as slim-cut Italian suits, and music styles such as modern jazz and rhythm and blues. It has been suggested that both modernists and their contemporaries, the rockers, evolved from the Teddy Boy subculture.[citation needed] Teddy Boys were influenced by American rock n' roll, wore Edwardian-style clothing, and had pompadour or quiff hairstyles. Other sources suggest a link between the modernist and beatnik subcultures, both of which had a penchant for modern jazz. Between 1945 and 1960, teenagers' wages had grown at a rate double that of their parents' wages.[citation needed] Many young people had relatively large amounts of disposable income, which along with the increased availability of HP and cheaper credit meant that teenagers could spend more money on tailored clothing and scooters, and could spend more free time in nightclubs and coffee bars. By the early 1960s, mod had developed to include contemporary fashion and lifestyle elements, such as continental European clothes, Italian motorscooters and — to a lesser degree — a taste for French New Wave films and existentialist philosophy (popular also with beatniks) The original mods gathered at all-night clubs such as The Scene, The Flamingo and The Marquee in London to hear the latest records and to show off their clothes and dance moves. As mod spread across the UK, other clubs became popular such as Twisted Wheel Club in Manchester.Although reports as to the importance of drugs amongst the original mods vary, for some mods, their all-night urban social life was fueled in part by amphetamines like Dexedrine, (sometimes known as blues or purple hearts). The drugs were sometimes purchased from African American GIs stationed in the UK, who were given drugs as part of their ration kit.[citation needed] Some of the drugs were also available over the counter in pharmacies. Black American soldiers also brought over rhythm and blues records that were unavailable in Britain, and often sold these to young people in London. Many mods used motorscooters for transportation, usually either Vespa or Lambretta. At the time, public transport stopped relatively early, and scooters were cheaper than cars and were also available via a Hire purchase scheme. After a law was passed requiring at least one mirror be attached to every motorcycle, mods were known to add four, 10, or as many as 30 mirrors to their scooters. This may have been to mock the new law.[citation needed] The Who's album Quadrophenia, which includes themes related to mods and rockers, features cover art depicting a young man on a scooter with four mirrors attached. As the lifestyle developed and was adopted by British teenagers of all economic strata, mods expanded their musical tastes beyond American jazz and R&B to embrace soul (particularly records released on the Atlantic, Stax, Tamla Motown and Sue labels), Jamaican ska, and British beat music and R&B; by artists such as Georgie Fame, The Animals, The Small Faces, The Who, The Yardbirds, The Kinks, and The Spencer Davis Group. Lesser-known British artists associated with the 1960s mod scene include The Action, Zoot Money and The Creation. However, many mods rejected British beat groups such as The Beatles (despite their significant contribution to the awareness of mod clothing fashion under Brian Epstein's image makeover in the spring and summer of 1962)[6] and The Rolling Stones because they did not consider those bands' R&B-influenced music to be authentic enough. The television programme Ready Steady Go! was an example of mod-inspired programming. Mods sometimes clashed with rockers, although fights between rival mod gangs were probably more common. In 1964, there were several well-publicised battles at seaside resorts such as Brighton, Margate, and Hastings.The mods and rockers conflict led to a moral panic about young people in the United Kingdom. There is disagreement about how much of the reports of violence were true, and how much was a media or police invention. Some credible sources suggest that the battles were staged for photographers.[citation needed] The media coverage has permanently linked the mod and rocker subcultures in the popular consciousness. Decline and new beginnings - Mods were the products of a culture of constant change, and by the time Bobby Moore held the World Cup aloft in the summer of 1966, the mod scene was in sharp decline. As psychedelic rock music and the hippie culture rose, many people drifted away from the mod lifestyle. Bands such as The Who and The Small Faces had changed their musical styles and no longer considered themselves mods. The "peacock" or "fashion" wing of mod culture evolved into the Bohemian style of London hippie culture, featuring a marked interest in previously esoteric ideas and aesthetics, and an arguably more gentle and contemplative outlook on life that certainly differed from the frenetic energy of the mod ethos. At the other end of the youth culture spectrum, both in philosophy and appearance, were the hard mods.The hard mods were rougher, had less emphasis on cutting-edge fashion trends, and got their hair cropped short. The hard mods soon transformed into the first skinheads. They retained basic elements of mod fashion — three-button suits, Fred Perry and Ben Sherman shirts, Sta-Prest trousers and Levi's jeans — but mixed them with working class-oriented accessories such as braces and Dr. Martens boots. Their style borrowed heavily from the Jamaican rude boy look, which included cropped hair, short-hemmed trousers and very narrow brimmed Trilby hats (commonly referred to in the UK as pork pie hats). Their shorter hair may have also come about for practical reasons; long hair can be a liability in industrial jobs and in streetfights. The 1960s skinheads kept some of the original mod music styles alive; specifically ska, soul, rocksteady and early reggae. These first skinheads had no association with any political movements, and mostly represented working-class pride. Mods also made up a notable proportion of the northern soul scene, a subculture based on obscure 1960s and 1970s American soul records. Revival and later influence - Main article: mod revival The 1979 film Quadrophenia, based on the 1973 album of the same name by The Who, celebrated the mod movement and partly inspired a mod revival in the UK in the late 1970s. Many of the mod revival bands were influenced by the energy of British punk rock and New Wave music. The revival was led by The Jam, and included bands such as Secret Affair, Purple Hearts and The Chords. This was followed by a mod revival in North America in the early 1980s, particularly in Southern California, led by bands such as The Untouchables. The mod scene in Los Angeles and Orange County was partly influenced by the 2 Tone ska revival in England, and was unique in its racial diversity.

The most common early mixtapes were bootleg 8 track tapes that were sold at flea markets and truck stops in the late 60's through the early 80's, with names like "Super 73", "Country Chart Toppers" or "Top Pops 1977". Homemade mixtapes became common in the 1980s. Although the compact audio cassette by Philips appeared at the 1963 Berlin radio show, the sound quality of cassettes was not good enough to be seriously considered for music recording until further advances in tape formulations, including the advent of chrome and metal tape. Before the introduction of the audio cassette, the creation of a pop music compilation required specialized or cumbersome equipment, such as a reel-to-reel or 8 track recorder, that was often inaccessible to the casual music fan. As cassette tapes and recorders grew in popularity and portability, these technological hurdles were lowered to the point where the only resources required to create a mix were a handful of cassettes and a cassette recorder connected to a source of prerecorded music, such as a radio or LP player. The 8-track tape cartridge was more popular for music recording during much of the 1960s, as the cassette was originally only mono and intended for vocal recordings only, such as in office dictation machines. But improvements in fidelity finally allowed the cassette to become a major player. The ready availability of the cassette and higher quality home recording decks to serve the home casual user allowed the cassette to become the dominant tape format, to the point that the 8 track tape nearly disappeared shortly after the turn of the 1980s. The growth of the mixtape was also encouraged by improved quality and increased popularity of audio cassette players in car entertainment systems, and by the introduction of the Sony Walkman in 1979. A distinction should be drawn between a private mixtape, which is usually intended for a specific listener or private social event, and a public mixtape, or "party tape", usually consisting of a recording of a club performance by a DJ and intended to be sold to multiple individuals. In the 1970s, such DJs as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, Kool Herc and the Herculoids, DJ Breakout, the Funky Four, and DJ Hollywood would often distribute recordings of their club performances via audio cassette, as well as customized recordings (often prepared at exorbitant prices) for individual tape purchasers. These recordings tended to be of higher technical ability than home-made mixtapes and incorporated techniques such as beatmatching and scratching. One 12 October 1974 article in Billboard Magazine reported, "Tapes were originally dubbed by jockeys to serve as standbys for times when they did not have disco turntables to hand. The tapes represent each jockey's concept of programming, placing, and sequencing of record sides. The music is heard without interruption. One- to three-hour programs bring anywhere from $30 to $75 per tape, mostly reel-to-reel, but increasingly on cartridge and cassette." Club proprietors, as well as DJs, would often prepare such tapes for sale. The CD-R disc is currently the most common medium for homemade mixesThroughout the 1980s, mixtapes were a highly visible element of youth culture. However, the increased availability of CD burners and MP3 players and the gradual disappearance of cassette players in cars and households have led to a decline in the popularity of the compact audio cassette as a medium for homemade mixes. The high point of traditional mixtape culture was arguably the publication of Nick Hornby's novel High Fidelity in 1995. Since then, mixtapes have largely been replaced by mix CDs and shared MP3 playlists, which are more durable, can hold more songs, and require minutes (rather than hours) to prepare. While some mixtape enthusiasts bemoan the obsolescence of the cassette tape, others concede that the greater convenience offered by the mix CD has expanded the possibilities and accessibility of the medium, as indicated by the recent resurgence of mix-swapping clubs that trade mix CDs by regular mail. Some mix enthusiasts also appreciate the potential of the mix CD for extended, continuous mixes and creative album art. Today, websites concerned with electronic music provide mixes in a digital format. These usually consist of recorded DJ sets of live, beat-matched mixes of songs, which are used by DJs seeking to demonstrate their mixing skills to an online audience. Some radio shows worldwide specialize in mix series, including The Breezeblock on BBC Radio 1, The Solid Steel Show (formerly on KISS-FM), and The BTTB Show. Additionally, DJs like DJ Spooky, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Z-Trip or DJ Shadow, The Avalanches, and RJD2 have gained fame for creating new songs by combining fragments of existing songs (which need not necessarily belong to the same genre). The resulting remix or mash-up can be seen as an evolution of the mixtape, in that it appropriates existing songs to give them new meanings through their juxtaposition, but does so in a quicker, more integrated style. This practice is heavily derived from the use of song loops as musical backdrops for an MC's rhymes in hip hop music, which is also related to turntablism. Mixtapes vs. compilations - Many commercially available compilations of pop music initially seem to share certain important characteristics with mixtapes. Like many private mixes, a significant number of the earliest pop LPs were essentially collections of popular singles, and such compilation albums have often taken cues from underground mixes of the same era. One example is Disco Par-r-r-ty, the first nonstop dancing LP record, which was released by Spring Records in October 1974. Consisting of a continuous mix of songs by such artists as James Brown, Mandrill, and Barry White, it was clearly inspired by the bootleg DJ mixes that were becoming popular at the same time. However, the relative anonymity of the compilers of such albums is arguably inconsistent with the rationale behind most mixtapes, which typically reflect the musical tastes of a single compiler. While the editors of such compilations do exercise a certain amount of discretion over song order and selection, the term mixtape is generally restricted to a compilation where the identity of the compiler is clearly associated with the album itself. For example, Starbucks, the coffee chain, sells a compilation CD series called Artist's Choice, which consists of mixes based on selections by such artists as Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, and Sheryl Crow. Similarly, Apple Computer's iTunes Store features Celebrity Playlists, downloadable mixtapes in AAC-compatible form, selected by such artists as Moby, Barry Manilow, and Andrew W.K. The Late Night Tales series has seen artists such as Four Tet and Turin Brakes make their own compilations that are distributed in mainstream record shops such as HMV. The presence of an identifiable compiler whose tastes are reflected in song selection and arrangement allow retail mix CDs to be distinguished from other types of compilations. The distinction can be rather subtle. For example, while most "greatest hits" compilations of individual recording artists consist of a collection of singles in chronological order, others include album tracks, new songs, or obscure selections in addition to established hits, and sometimes reorder the songs for optimal listening. As such, these compilations can be seen as "artist-specific" mixes selected and arranged by the artists themselves. One could also argue that the modern movie soundtrack, which often consists of selected pop music tracks (rather than the traditional orchestral score) is a mixtape with songs selected by the film's director or music supervisor.

I seemed to spend my formative years on the preriphery of the mod circles of South London. Having elder brothers and almost through default due to my age I was forced into the two tone camp. The Jam were the only band I was allowed to like that didnt ‘belong’ to the mods as they were current. I was very happy with The Specials, The Selector, The Bodysnatchers and all these bands but there was one problem for me….The Jam made me feel like things made some sense. And Motown blew me away. Not wanting to go into too much detail and dredge up the past…I spent a lot of time in care as a child and due to family circumstances I had a lot of unshown and latent anger from an early age. Something I felt the young Paul Weller understood very well. The Beatles were an education I had to give myself. Elvis never really happened for me as Id missed that exitement and was lucky enough to be born after the musical revolution. ‘Teddy Bear’ anyone? The only revolution I saw was punk - and i hated it. It was crass, dirty, musically inept and not for me. I liked the concept on paper but in reality ….the music sucked. The only band I could listen to were The Clash and I still think to this day, they had more of a ska sound anyway. I fell into mod culture by accident really. My closest brother was a ‘real’ mod. His school uniform was Ben Sherman button downs and Sta-press trousers from 12 years old….even in our financial climate. He would forego some of lifes neccessities in order to look ‘the part’ - if he looked it, he was it. Something it took me many years to fully comprehend. He would force feed me long players on a daily basis and i would sit and nod politely, not realising this music was getting into my bloodstream and would stay there forever. His female friends (modettes as they called themselves) were the most amazing looking women I had ever seen. And his mates at the cafe on their scooters epitomised cool….flash gits! The day ‘it’ happened is one we will both never forget. I was a skinhead kid…sounds bad now but back then we didnt even spit. It was a look more than an attitude. No ‘This Is England’ more ‘this is the nutty sound’. I was a kid - it was great. I shaved my head and wore braces with short jeans and ridiculously long DMs - older girls thought I was cute so I ran with it! This was before the racism had begun and everything was a lot calmer. My brother and his need to infiltrate my mind with music meant that every morning he chose an album to get ready to and I had to listen too. This particular day it was ‘A Spotlight On The Kinks’. All nice and jerky and exactly the kind of thing that made him tick. He left for school as normal with me still tucked up in bed as I didnt have to travel very far. The Kinks still spinning around on our dodgy portable record player. This particular day though, having got half way to his destination he realised he had forgotten his PE kit (as everyone knows the spare kit at school stinks and my brothers staunch styling meant that him in someone elses shorts was never gonna happen). When he returned and in a split second we became more than brothers but best friends and grew a mutual respect we have to this day. He came bounding up the stairs in my memory…in his he was aghast and waited outside listening to me singing away. I’m not so sure that part hasnt been romanticised over time. The record in question was a singles affair that he always span the A side of. Always. He came home to catch me halfway through the B side singing a Kinks track he had never heard of! Instantly he became animated and started rifling through his wardrobe looking for cast offs that might fit my comparitively tiny frame. I was up for it…I must have been. We skived off school that day and blagged the buses to Woolwich market where i discovered another of my brothers many talents. He managed to acquire a full authentic parka for his little brother without even breaking into a run. That was it…..i was now a mod. Or was I? I spent the next year checking out all these fantastic revival bands and honing my 60s ear. Loving every track I heard but not quite settling in fully. There was a problem with it that sat heavily on my shoulders. I wasnt a mod…I never felt good enough! Those guys had that edge only confidence gives you. You dont get unconfident mods. Its like having a fat mod. He’s just a fat kid in a button down - not a mod. Its a coolness thing. I gave up trying. I spent the rest of my childhood/teeenage years drifting around various musical genres trying to find the one that fits but always coming back to this 60s influenced music. The 80s were horrble but at least the Smiths filled that gap I had. Unfortunately i never replaced them. I tried it all….pills and The Happy Mondays, smoke and The Stone Roses (I was ready but they weren’t) and various other drugs with various other bands that had something a bit more interesting and special to offer. Unfortunately I woke up in 89 and realised I was an indie fan. My dalliances with acid had given me a new outlook on the 60s stuff but it wasnt the same as hearing them the first time and feeling like you wanted to be a part of something. I gave it a whirl for a good 10 years - always obscure bands, never the obvious chart botherers. The Pixies had something but they were American. James had something but they were a wet version of Morrissey. Morrissey had something but he pissed him off so he left. If the Super Furry Animals were around back then Id have been sorted but unfortunately Northside, The Mock Turtles and Pop Will Eat Itself were instead. Oh dear! (And I wont even start on the motown re-recordings with the 'huh' vocals and rotten drum breaks!) I was aware through all this that Paul Weller had never released anything I hadnt bought in the first week of release. Regardless of my current musical influences…it was like I had to have it. And with my hand on my heart I can honestly say he hasnt made a record I didnt love. Even if it was just for the b-side! Not 1 shit record in his entire career, in MY opinion. So finding out that Paul Weller was struggling to get a record deal and the fans had switched off amazed me. These guys were mods. That shits for life isnt it. YES! I could hear myself thinking it and suddenly realised Ive been searching for something I found right at the start. It never left me and I was never really a part of it so I felt disgusted by the fans fickle lack of respect to the guy who had basically taught us all about good music. Round 2….Im back. I slowly became that mod again….the clothes changed, the music changed - this time the Stax soul and northern soul I hadnt gone too close to before were jumping out at me. Acid Jazz had happened and i’d loved the whole rare groove vibe….it felt right! It was like coming home (only to discover you are 25/30 years too late). It wasn’t an overnight thing either or even a concious decision…it was a gradual acceptance of who I am. And believe me, it cost me dearly but I’m not sorry. I’m real. Because of my musical integrity and beliefs the expressions ‘arrogant’ and ’snob’ have been hurled at me from time to time - that’s life. The best thing it has given me is an ear for rnb. Real rnb! its also taught me to appreciate the music that led me down lifes magical journey - and if Im honest, thats powerpop!!! Im a 36 year old white English male. How can i say Im predominantely influenced by American 60s soul unless I grew up on a commune. Its British mod groups of the 60s and The Jam that started it (they were the ones influenced by it and they passed that to me) and its Paul Weller that kept it going untill it came full circle. I am now good enough, in my opinion and proud to call myself a mod! The only problem is…..so is everyone these days. I never called myself a mod when I listened to indie music so why do kids do it now. Its not meant to be ‘groovy’, its like they say in the film- 'a way of life'. Ive been called many things in my time but the one true thing that remains is the mod influence from the glory days before anyone else got their hands on me or that music. Obviously this is a hugely condensed and detail free version of events but I hope it at least touches on the passion that comes from accepting a culture over a long period of time and not ‘playing’ at it. Its all about the tunes folks and any feedback will be muchly appreciated - The Beat Collector (Jan 2008)